CC* Regional: Promoting Research and Education at Small Colleges in the Atlanta University Center and at Tuskegee University through Network Architecture Enhancements

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

The Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) in collaboration with Southern Light Rail and Southern Crossroads (SLR/SoX) provides advanced networking services for the research and education (R&E) communities across the Southeastern United States. This project extends advanced network services and provides cyberinfrastructure (Cl) access, training and support to researchers and educators from four historically Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), three of them from the Atlanta University Center Consortium, plus Tuskegee University. GT works with these MSIs to implement robust and secure 10 or 100 gigabit networking that enable and support the computational research and education at these institutions. Furthermore, GT and SoX are establishing and engaging in outreach activities and are identifying other researchers in these institutions who are interested in accessing Cl resources and training. The project addresses MSI’s networking and Cl needs and enhances their connectivity. By enabling, supporting, and promoting connectivity and computational research at MSIs, this project has a transformative impact on these institutions' research and education activities campus-wide. It strengthens the research ecosystem and network of expertise in the Southeastern states and expands the range of institutions involved in computational research. The network connectivity facilitated by this project increases research training and workforce development for students at four partner Minority Serving institutions and lays the groundwork for project expansion to other MSIs. Additionally, the project team continues training and fostering mentoring opportunities for a diverse group of students, including women and minorities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.